The New Orleans Civil Service Commission says Mayor LaToya Cantrell improperly got involved in the New Orleans Police promotion process, leading to a delay in promotions, WWL-TV reports.
Last fall, the NOPD paused promotions after the mayor raised concerns about bias in the process, according to reports.
Cantrell invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when the Civil Service Commission sought answers from her during its investigation.
Police Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick testified during the commission's hearing last month that the mayor told her to ignore a federally-required scoring process for promotions, saying it was "institutionally biased" against NOPD Lt. Sabrina Richardson.
Richardson, once a district commander, was demoted to lieutenant amid claims she was taking pay for being on-duty while at the same time claiming to be working off-duty details.
The federally mandated promotion scoring process gave Richardson lower marks, and therefore less of a chance, of being promoted to captain.
Kirkpatrick testified that she refused to go along with the mayor's demands, but she did delay promotions for about five months while the process was reviewed.
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The promotions eventually went through, with two other officers being promoted to the rank of captain.
The Civil Service Commission's findings are the fourth time Cantrell has been found to have acted improperly in this round of promotions, following investigations by the Inspector General, federal police monitors, and the federal judge overseeing the NOPD consent decree.